First Edition: Feb. 1, 2021

KHN: How A Bounty Of Vaccines Flooded A Small Hospital And Its Nearby College
When administrators at Hillsdale College, a conservative liberal-arts school in Michigan, heard its local hospital didn’t have a way to store the Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine, they offered the use of its science department’s ultra-low temperature freezer. The vaccine must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit. With that help, the small hospital — employing about 400 — was able to receive vaccines from the state: 1,950 doses in late December, more than twice what it requested, according to the hospital CEO. (Appleby, 2/1)

KHN: Food Guidelines Change But Fail To Take Cultures Into Account 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services have once again developed new food guidelines for Americans that urge people to customize a diet of nutrient-dense food. For the first time, they make recommendations for infant nutrition and for different stages of life. But, as in past iterations, they lack seasoning. They do not acknowledge the nuances of culture and ethnicity at the heart of how Americans feed themselves. (Giles, 2/1)

KHN: Tampa’s Mayor Vs. A Covid-Era Super Bowl
With its lively music scene and Ybor City historical district full of bars and restaurants, Tampa has a nightlife hard to beat anywhere in Florida. The city will have a big reason to party on Sunday — as the site of Super Bowl LV and the first city to host its own football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in the championship game. The expected arrival of thousands of exuberant fans and the usual celebrations that mark the Super Bowl would seem to be a logistical headache for Mayor Jane Castor, who sought unsuccessfully last year to close bars in the city to stop the spread of covid-19 and has clashed with the state’s Republican governor about the wisdom of rapidly opening up. (Galewitz, 2/1)

KHN: Older Adults Without Family Or Friends Lag In Race To Get Vaccines 
A divide between “haves” and “have-nots” is emerging as older adults across the country struggle to get covid-19 vaccines. Seniors with family members or friends to help them are getting vaccine appointments, even if it takes days to secure them. Those without reliable social supports are missing out. Elders who can drive — or who can get other people to drive them — are traveling to locations where vaccines are available, crossing city or county borders to do so. Those without private transportation, are stuck with whatever is available nearby. (Graham, 2/1)

KHN: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Tips For Fighting Medical Bills From A Former ‘Bad Guy’ Lawyer
Lawyer Jeff Bloom used to be the person whom medical providers and debt collectors would hire to represent them in court. “I was a bad guy, for sure,” he said. Then, a few years ago, he switched sides. Bloom now represents consumers and, in this episode, shares what he knows. He said consumers have more rights than they may realize, although enforcing those rights may be tough. (Weissmann, 2/1)

AP: CDC Requires Face Masks On Airlines, Public Transportation
Travelers on airplanes and public transportation like buses and subways will be required to wear face masks starting next week to curb the spread of COVID-19.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a mask-wearing rule late Friday that builds on an order announced Jan. 21 by President Joe Biden. The rule “will protect Americans and provide confidence that we can once again travel safely even during this pandemic,” said Dr. Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s division of migration and quarantine, who signed the order. (1/30)

CNBC: CDC Orders Sweeping U.S. Transportation Mask Mandate As Covid Rages
The order, which takes effect at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday, requires face masks to be worn by all travelers on airplanes, ships, trains, subways, buses, taxis, and ride-shares and at transportation hubs like airports, bus or ferry terminals, train and subway stations and seaports. ... Under Donald Trump, who was president until Jan. 20, a CDC push to mandate masks in transit was blocked and the agency instead only issued strong recommendations for mask use. Trump also rejected efforts by Congress to mandate mask use. (1/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: U.K., Brazil Coronavirus Variants Found In Bay Area
Two additional coronavirus variants have been discovered in the Bay Area, making even more urgent California’s commitment to a faster and more efficient distribution of vaccinations across the state. The variants, which originated in Brazil and the United Kingdom and have spread to numerous countries, were identified in the Bay Area by scientists at Stanford University’s Clinical Virology Lab, spokeswoman Lisa Kim confirmed Sunday. She provided no information on the location of the infections but said they were reported to public health authorities on Thursday from samples “collected less than two weeks prior to reporting.” (Sanchez, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Variant First Found In South Africa Has Now Arrived In Maryland
The new variant of the coronavirus first found in South Africa has emerged in a Maryland resident, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said Saturday, confirming the arrival of a highly transmissible mutation as the region struggles to meet demand for the vaccine. (Schmidt and Flynn, 1/30)

The Hill: Top FDA Official: Agency Working On 'Streamlined' Process For Updating Vaccines If Needed 
A top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official said Friday that the agency will try to have a "streamlined" process for authorizing any updates that are required for COVID-19 vaccines to adapt to the threat of new variants. "We would intend to try to be pretty nimble with this," said Peter Marks, the head of the FDA center that reviews vaccines, during a webinar hosted by the American Medical Association. (Sullivan, 1/29)

The Hill: Biden Meeting With GOP Senators Monday On Coronavirus Relief 
A group of GOP senators will meet with President Biden on Monday after pitching their own coronavirus relief framework. “We appreciate the President’s quick response to our letter, and we are pleased to accept his invitation to the White House tomorrow afternoon to discuss the path forward for the sixth bipartisan Covid-19 relief package,” the GOP senators said in a joint statement. (Carney, 1/31)

The Washington Post: Biden To Meet With Senate Republicans Offering Covid Relief Counter-Proposal
President Biden intends to meet on Monday with 10 GOP senators who are calling on him to make a bipartisan deal instead of forging ahead with a party-line vote on his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan. The group announced plans Sunday to release an approximately $600 billion coronavirus relief package as a counter-proposal to Biden’s much larger plan, posing a test for the new president who campaigned on promises to unify Congress and the country. (Werner, Stein and Kim, 1/31)

The Hill: GOP Senators Propose Compromise On COVID-19 Relief 
Ten Senate Republicans led by Susan Collins of Maine proposed their own framework on Sunday for a COVID-19 relief package in an apparent attempt to stave off accusations the GOP is unwilling to work with the Biden administration on pandemic aid. In a letter released by Collins's office, the senators, including Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), urged President Biden to meet with them and discuss "how we can work together to meet the needs of the American people during this persistent pandemic." (Bowden, 1/31)

Stat: Biden Administration Pumps Brakes On Signature Trump Drug Pricing Proposal
The Biden administration has agreed to delay for a year the implementation of one of President Trump’s signature drug pricing policies. The policy at issue would prevent drug makers and middlemen from negotiating rebates on prescription drugs. The prohibition was scheduled to go into effect in January 2022, but the Biden administration agreed to delay it until 2023, a court order filed Saturday showed. (Cohrs, 1/31)

The Hill: GAO: Trump Administration Spent $200M To Send Foreign Nations 8,700 Ventilators 
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows that the Trump administration spent $200 million to send 8,722 ventilators to other countries during the coronavirus pandemic last year. The watchdog found that the initiative was not based on guidance from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The GAO is not sure what guidelines Trump was using for the distributions of ventilators. (Lonas, 1/29)

Stat: Trump Officials Lobbied To Deny States Money For Vaccine Rollout Last Fall 
Top Trump officials actively lobbied Congress to deny state governments any extra funding for the Covid-19 vaccine rollout last fall — despite frantic warnings from state officials that they didn’t have the money they needed to ramp up a massive vaccination operation. (Florko, 1/31)

Politico: Biden Toughens Workplace Safety Guidelines But Lets Stand DPA Meat Production Order 
President Joe Biden set a record for the flurry of executive actions he issued on his first day in office. But despite his calls on the campaign trail for tougher worker safety enforcement during the pandemic, one Trump-era executive action is still in place that worker safety advocates have argued would allow unsafe meat producers to remain open. ... Several meat companies have cited the executive order in court to challenge lawsuits over Covid-19-related worker illnesses and deaths. (Rainey, 1/31)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Pauses Organ Procurement, Part D E-Prescribing Rules
The Biden administration on Friday paused two Trump-era regulations affecting organ procurement organizations and Part D prescription drug plans. CMS delayed a rule that would revamp quality reporting measures to boost transparency in the organ procurement and transplantation process, according to the agency. It also pushed back a rule that would mandate Part D plans to support a new electronic prior authorization standard for their Part D e-prescribing plans. Both regulations were set to take effect on Feb. 1 but will now start on Mar. 30. It's unclear whether the Biden administration will ultimately move forward with either rule. (Brady, 1/29)

The New York Times: Daily Covid Toll In U.S. Remains Enormous, But Cases Are Falling 
The past few weeks in the United States have been the deadliest of the coronavirus pandemic, and residents in a majority of counties remain at an extremely high risk of contracting the virus. At the same time, transmission seems to be slowing throughout the country, with the number of new average cases 40 percent lower on Jan. 29 than at the U.S. peak three weeks earlier. Other indicators reinforce the current downward trend in cases. Hospitalizations are down significantly from record highs in early January. The number of tests per day has also decreased, which can obscure the virus’s true toll, but the positivity rate of those tests has also gone down, indicating the slowed spread is real. Still, the average reported daily death rate over the past seven days remains above 3,000, compared with less than 1,000 per day in September and October. (Leatherby and Gamio, 1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Reported Cases, Deaths, Hospitalizations Decline In U.S. 
Newly reported Covid-19 cases were down from a day earlier, as were hospitalizations and deaths, following a month when all three metrics hit records before abating. The nation reported more than 110,000 new cases for Sunday, after Saturday’s 142,091, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Sunday’s number was also down from a week-earlier 131,075. It may update later in the U.S. morning. (Martin, 2/1)

The Hill: January Saw Highest Coronavirus Hospitalization Average 
January saw the greatest number of COVID-19 fatalities and the highest average number of coronavirus hospitalizations of any month, according to the COVID tracking project. An average of more than 120,000 people were hospitalized in the U.S. for coronavirus during the month of January, according to the COVID tracking project. (Pitofsky, 1/31)

The New York Times: Evidence Builds That Pregnant Women Pass Covid Antibodies To Newborns
One of the many big questions scientists are trying to untangle is whether people who get Covid-19 during pregnancy will pass on some natural immunity to their newborns. Recent studies have hinted that they might. And new findings, published Friday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, provide another piece of the puzzle, offering more evidence that Covid-19 antibodies can cross the placenta. (Caron, 1/29)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Antibodies Transmit From Moms To Babies During Pregnancy 
Because placental antibody transfer begins at about 17 weeks of gestation and rises exponentially from then on, vaccinating mothers early in the second trimester might be optimal to achieving high antibody levels in newborns, she said. "While a serologic correlate of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptomatic or severe disease is unknown at this time, higher antibody levels might result in a better chance for protection of the newborn during a period of special vulnerability," said Flor Munoz, MD, of Baylor College of Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 1/29)

CIDRAP: COVID Inflammatory Syndrome In Kids Ranges From Mild To Life-Threatening
An international survey of 183 pediatric patients with the rare but serious COVID-19–related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) shows broad clinical presentations, from mild illness featuring fever and inflammation to life-threatening shock similar to that of Kawasaki disease (KD).The study, led by researchers at Royal Brompton Hospital in London and published today in Pediatrics, was a retrospective case series of children younger than 18 years diagnosed as having MIS-C who were released from the hospital or died from Mar 1 to Jun 15, 2020, from 33 hospitals in American, Asian, and European countries. (1/29)

CNBC: Former Biden Covid Advisor Warns Of Coming Surge In Covid Cases
An epidemiologist who advised President Joe Biden’s transition on the Covid-19 crisis warned on Sunday of a looming wave of infections and said the U.S. should adjust its vaccination strategy in order to save lives.“We do have to call an audible, I think it’s no doubt about it,” Dr. Michael Osterholm said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” using a metaphor drawn from football to describe changing plans on the fly. Osterholm said that the administration should attempt to administer as many first doses of vaccine as it can, particularly to those over 65-years-old, ahead of a potential surge in cases linked to mutations found overseas. The two vaccines approved by federal regulators in the U.S. are administered in two doses given three weeks apart. Osterholm suggested that his plan might require some second doses to be delayed. (Higgins, 1/31)

Washington Examiner: Infectious Disease Expert Says Wearing Two Masks Could Enhance Ability To Get Infected By COVID-19
Michael Osterholm, who was a member of the Biden Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board, gave a second opinion after Dr. Anthony Fauci said last week that doubling up on face masks “likely” provides more protection than wearing just one mask. "When we talk about double masking, remember what we're really talking about is just trying to prevent the virus from being excreted by me into the air or me inhaling the virus from someone else in the air, and it's both a function of face fit and face filtration," Osterholm said during an interview Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. The director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota compared face masks to swim goggles, noting that leaks usually happen "at the fit" rather than at the lenses. (Chaitin, 1/31)

Boston Globe: Frustrated With The Government’s Virus Response, Citizens Are Building Their Own Testing Programs. And It’s Working
If you want fast, reliable, accessible COVID-19 testing in Massachusetts, it helps if you know a guy who knows a guy. Especially if you have the time and money — and that guy is a scientist. Frustrated by the lack of an overarching state or federal strategy for COVID-19 testing, an increasing number of local organizations are rolling up their sleeves and figuring out how to create their own testing programs, part of a desperate effort to return to normalcy as the pandemic drags on and solutions — amid a bumpy vaccine rollout — still seem far off. In Needham, one woman launched a Jewish temple school’s testing program, serving about 400 students and teachers, and is now considering buying lab equipment. In Brookline, staff at a low-income senior housing complex secured rapid tests for staff, residents, and their visitors. And in Wellesley, a group of parents pioneered their own surveillance testing program to monitor COVID’s presence in the public school district there, complete with a barcode scanning app to link names and samples that they built themselves. (Krantz, 1/31)

The Hill: Rutgers Researcher Who Developed First COVID-19 Saliva Test Dies 
A Rutgers University research professor who developed the first COVID-19 saliva test died of a heart attack earlier this month in New York City, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Andrew Brooks died at age 51 on Jan. 23, about 10 months after changing the game for COVID-19 testing with his spit test that allowed testing to increase significantly. (Coleman, 1/31)

The New York Times: Snowstorm Disrupts Vaccinations Across Northeast 
Vaccine sites in the New York metro area are closing Monday because of a looming winter storm that is expected to dump up to 16 inches of snow on the region. Winter storm warnings were in place for a large swath of the eastern United States on Sunday, disrupting vaccinations in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey and elsewhere. At a news conference on Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he did not want older New Yorkers on the road traveling to vaccine appointments, warning of blizzard-like conditions with gusty winds. Vaccinations scheduled for Tuesday in New York City have not been canceled, for now, Mr. de Blasio said. (2/1)

NPR: LA COVID-19 Vaccinations Delayed By Protesters
For nearly an hour Saturday, about 50 vaccination opponents and right-wing supporters of former President Donald Trump delayed COVID-19 vaccinations when they protested at the entrance to Dodger Stadium, the site of a mass vaccination campaign. Holding signs that said things such as "COVID=Scam," "Don't be a lab rat" and "Tell Bill Gates to go vaccinate himself," the protesters caused the Los Angeles Fire Department to close the stadium entrance as a precaution. People in hundreds of cars, waiting in line for hours, had to wait even longer. The site was shut down around 2 p.m. Saturday as several Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at the scene. No arrests were made, and by 3 p.m., the site was reopened. "We will not be deterred or threatened," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Twitter. (Schwartz, 2/1)

Stat: Johnson & Johnson's Vaccine Could Set Off A New Phase In The Battle Against COVID-19
Overall, the vaccine was 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe disease 28 days after vaccination. But efficacy differed depending on geography. The shot was 72% effective among clinical trial volunteers in the U.S, but 66% among those in Latin America, and just 57% among those in South Africa. Though markedly below the levels seen with the first two authorized COVID-19 vaccines, those rates are above the thresholds originally set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a vaccine to be considered useful. The vaccine reduced severe disease alone by 85%, and prevented COVID-related hospitalization or death, Johnson & Johnson said. “In a pandemic, if you can, with a single-dose vaccine, very quickly eliminate the severe consequences of death, hospitalization, and severe disease, that’s what’s important for society,” Paul Stoffels, the company’s chief scientific officer, told STAT. (Herper, 1/29)

Stat: More Covid-19 Vaccines Bring Choices And Complications To Rollout 
It’s always good for consumers to have options, right? And indeed, the United States should soon have three Covid-19 vaccines being injected into people’s arms, with more potentially on the way in the coming months, accelerating the race to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people as quickly as possible. (Joseph and Goldhill, 1/29)

Bloomberg: Pfizer or Sputnik? Race to Inject Prompts Calls for Choice
Many people who’ve been boning up on efficacy rates, dosing schedules or side effects want to decide for themselves. If the options are a shot from a Western drugmaker that’s been vetted by an independent regulator or one from a Russian or Chinese lab with lesser transparency, that desire is even greater. “We demand the government to provide people the freedom of choice,” said Gergely Arato, a member of the opposition Democratic Coalition party in Hungary. Hungary broke ranks with other EU members to approve Russia’s Sputnik V and a vaccine from China’s Sinopharm Group Ltd. alongside the three shots cleared by Europe’s drug regulator -- from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca. While Prime Minister Viktor Orban is technically offering choice, his promotion of the Chinese and Russian shots is endangering people’s “willingness to get vaccinated,” Arato said at a press conference this month. (Loh, 1/31)

The New York Times: Which Covid Vaccine Should You Get? Experts Cite The Effect Against Severe Disease 
At first glance, the results reported on Friday from the long-awaited trial of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine might have seemed disappointing. Its overall efficacy — the ability to prevent moderate and severe disease — was reported at 72 percent in the United States, 66 percent in Latin American countries and 57 percent in South Africa. ... But researchers warn that trying to compare effectiveness between new studies and earlier ones may be misleading, because the virus is evolving quickly and to some extent the trials have studied different pathogens. (Grady, 1/29)

The Hill: Fauci Hopes To See Vaccinations For Children By 'Late Spring And Early Summer' 
Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said on Friday during a White House coronavirus briefing that he would like to see vaccines against the disease extended to children within the next few months. “Hopefully by the time we get to the late spring and early summer we will have children being able to be vaccinated,” Fauci said. (Lonas, 1/29)

The New York Times: How The Search For Covid-19 Treatments Faltered While Vaccines Sped Ahead 
Nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, as thousands of patients are dying every day in the United States and widespread vaccination is still months away, doctors have precious few drugs to fight the virus. A handful of therapies — remdesivir, monoclonal antibodies and the steroid dexamethasone — have improved the care of Covid patients, putting doctors in a better position than they were when the virus surged last spring. But these drugs are not cure-alls and they’re not for everyone, and efforts to repurpose other drugs, or discover new ones, have not had much success. (Zimmer, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Health-Care Workers Are Still Saying No To A Covid-19 Vaccine 
Efforts to disseminate Covid-19 vaccines as widely as possible are hitting an unexpected obstacle: health-care workers who decline the shots. Officials from Ohio said recently that 60% of nursing-home staff so far haven’t elected to take the vaccine. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this month that state officials expect 30% of health-care workers offered the vaccine will ultimately turn it down. Two-thirds of the staff at a Florida hospital refused the vaccine this month, leaving so many unused doses that the facility started giving away shots to the general public. (Wernau, 1/31)

AP: Vaccine Skepticism Lurks In Town Famous For Syphilis Study
Lucenia Dunn spent the early days of the coronavirus pandemic encouraging people to wear masks and keep a safe distance from each other in Tuskegee, a mostly Black city where the government once used unsuspecting African American men as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease. Now, the onetime mayor of the town immortalized as the home of the infamous “Tuskegee syphilis study” is wary of getting inoculated against COVID-19. Among other things, she’s suspicious of the government promoting a vaccine that was developed in record time when it can’t seem to conduct adequate virus testing or consistently provide quality rural health care. (Reeves, 2/1)

Politico: Social Media ‘Micro-Influencers’ Join Effort To Get America Vaccinated 
Health care providers scrambling to build trust in Covid-19 vaccines are amassing a digital army to win over skeptics, enlisting everyone from faith leaders to social media stars to promote confidence in the shots — especially in hard-to-reach communities. ... Local health care leaders said they are purposefully eschewing big-name celebrities or splashy PR campaigns. Instead, they are aiming to pull in a broad range of voices, including many who don’t boast of huge online followings but hold sway in their communities. Many of the campaigns target communities of color who have been especially devastated by the coronavirus but are also more hesitant to get vaccinated. For those with limited internet access, they’re hosting informational phone conferences with doctors and nurses who patients already are likely to know. (Ravindranath, 1/30)

Bay Area News Group: How COVID-19's Immunity Certificates Could Restore Our Lives Or Divide Us
Imagine a future when a single document determines whether you work, play or travel. That scenario – a system of “immunity certification” that grants privileges to those vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus – is now being deliberated by a growing number of global businesses and governments, anxious to control the disease and also restore the economy. The debate comes at a time when millions of people, slowly but surely, are getting vaccinated and are restless to return to their pre-pandemic lives. Yet many millions of others are forced to wait. “People are starting to ask: ‘Why should I be subject to restrictions if I don’t actually pose a risk to other people?'” said David Studdert, a professor of medicine and law at Stanford University.  “One way or another, it seems like ‘immunity certification’ is coming our way.” (Krieger, 1/31)

Houston Chronicle: Vaccine Data Troubles Raise Equity Concerns For Black, Latino Texans
At the onset of the pandemic and again with the vaccine rollout, Texas officials have struggled to gather data critical to protecting Black and Hispanic Texans who are among those at higher risk of serious complications from COVID-19. Almost two months into the vaccine distribution, the Department of State Health Services promised Thursday to begin requiring all providers to report race and ethnicity data for all vaccine recipients. That pledge came after advocates and health experts raised concerns that the information was missing for nearly half of the 1.8 million Texans who have received at least one dose of the vaccine. (Harris and Bureau, 1/31)

Axios: Life Insurers Screen For COVID-19
Because of the pandemic, more people than ever are seeking out life insurance — just as insurers seek ways to identify people who have had COVID-19, and in some cases deny them coverage. ... Alarmed at clampdowns by underwriters in Europe, the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) just sent a letter to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners urging that U.S. insurance firms establish clear and transparent rules on life insurance eligibility and COVID-19. (Kingson, 2/1)

Stat: FDA Delays Approval Decision For Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Treatment
The Food and Drug Administration is delaying its decision on Biogen’s closely watched Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab, requesting more evidence that the treatment can slow the cognitive decline associated with the disease, the company said Friday. The FDA had promised to render a decision on the approval of aducanumab by March 7. The process is now being extended by three months to June 7, the company said. (Feuerstein and Garde, 1/29)

Stat: The FDA Delayed Its Decision On Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Drug. Now What?
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision to take three extra months to review Biogen’s controversial Alzheimer’s drug has brought more questions than answers, further complicating the future of what would be the first new treatment for the disease in nearly 20 years. (Garde and Feuerstein, 2/1)

Modern Healthcare: Patient-Reported Outcomes Tool For Hernia Surgery Improves Care
Hernias are among the most common conditions in the U.S. and for some patients, surgery is recommended to ease the pain and discomfort they typically cause. But research shows hernia repair surgeries—nearly 1 million are performed every year—aren’t foolproof. Patients can have recurrent hernias or experience continued discomfort that sometimes require additional procedures. Interested in understanding how effective hernia repair surgery is in improving quality of life for specific patient populations, Dr. John Fischer, associate professor of surgery at Penn Medicine who performs the procedure, began over five years ago exploring a patient-reported outcomes tool specifically for this surgery. Patient-reported outcomes are quality measures that assess quality of life for a patient and have become increasingly more popular in recent years across disease states. (Castellucci, 1/30)

Modern Healthcare: HIPAA Patient Privacy Law Due For An Overhaul, Experts Say
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act—HIPAA—turns 25 years old in August, and experts say it’s time for the patient privacy law to finally live up to its promise. While HIPAA mostly succeeded in safeguarding patient health information created in the healthcare system, it hasn’t enabled widespread information sharing and doesn’t really protect health-relevant information outside the traditional healthcare system. Most experts agreed the nation’s health privacy rules are long overdue for an overhaul, given all the changes that have taken place in healthcare and technology since 1996, though some insiders think the current regulatory system works well enough. (Brady, 1/30)

The Washington Post: Americans Can’t Cut Back On Salt. One Likely Reason: Packaged And Prepared Foods Are Filled With It.
The recently released 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines from the Agriculture Department remind Americans that they should consume less than 2,300 milligrams of salt a day — equivalent to about a teaspoon. Instead, we eat nearly 50 percent more than that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The recommendation is the same as in the earlier 2015-2020 guidelines, yet the average American has not cut down on salt, still consuming an average of more than 3,400 mg daily, according to the CDC. (Cimons, 1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: The NFL’s Covid-19 Finding That Saved The Season 
People were testing positive for the virus even though they had spent far less than 15 minutes or weren’t within six feet of an infectious person—and the league had the contact-tracing technology to prove it. “That was a wake-up call,” said Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer. “We had to be more precise in our definition of high-risk close contacts because clearly transmission could occur outside those basic boundaries of time and distance.” (Beaton and Radnofsky, 1/31)

The Washington Post: How To Use Airflow In A Car To Stay Safe From Covid
Varghese Mathai is a physicist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who studies the flow of fluids and gases. He conducted a study using computational fluid dynamics simulations to understand how air flows inside a car and its implications for covid-19 airborne transmission. In this interview, he explains the optimal ways to ensure maximum airflow inside a car. (1/31)

AP: California Governor And Unions Clash Over School Openings
An effort to reopen California schools is foundering, stoking frustrations across America’s most populous state from parents eager to get their children back in classrooms and a governor who wants them there. Parents and behavioral experts say many schoolchildren are feeling helpless or depressed and need a classroom setting to improve their mental health. An exasperated Gov. Gavin Newsom told school officials last week to “pack it up” if they fail to resume in-person classes soon. Teacher unions say they won’t send their members into an unsafe environment. They want all teachers vaccinated before returning to the classroom. (Gecker, 2/1)

AP: Chicago Schools Reopening Uncertain As Union Talks Stall
A plan to reopen Chicago schools remained in limbo as last-minute negotiations over COVID-19 safety measures with the teachers’ union stalled Sunday, amplifying the possibility of a strike or lockout. Roughly 62,000 students and about 10,000 teachers and staff in K-8 were expected to start school Monday for the first time since last March, part of the district’s gradual reopening plans during the pandemic. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Sunday she still expected all teachers, including those in pre-K and special education who started in-person earlier in January, to show up Monday. But she pushed back students’ arrival until Tuesday over staffing concerns, saying remote learning would be extended a day. (Tareen, 2/1)

USA Today: Oregon Decriminalizes All Drugs, Offers Treatment Instead Of Jail Time
The law goes into effect Monday and will be implemented over the next decade by the state officials at the Oregon Health Authority. Advocates say the pivot will be life-changing for thousands of Oregonians. “One of the things people misunderstand is how criminalization creates barriers to treatment,” says Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a national nonprofit dedicated to legalizing illicit drug use. “If we want people to make different choices, we have to give them more options ... ending criminalization will do leaps and bounds around ending shame, which automatically opens people up for other opportunities.” (Schnell, 2/1)

The Hill: Gyms, Movie Theaters, Museums Can Reopen In Boston Monday 
Gyms, movie theaters, museums and a slate of other businesses are set to open in Boston on Monday as the city moves into the next phase of its coronavirus reopening plan. The businesses will open at a 25 percent capacity limit, according to the city’s reopening plan. (Pitofsky, 1/31)

AP: WVa Medical Cannabis Patient Registration To Start This Week
Nearly four years after West Virginia lawmakers allowed a regulatory system to be established for medical cannabis products, eligible residents can start registering to eventually receive them. Residents with serious medical conditions can start registering Wednesday at www.medcanwv.org. Patient cards that will be issued will be valid only in West Virginia. (2/1)

Crain's New York Business: Potent Marijuana Faces Stiff Taxes Under N.Y. Proposal
The stronger the pot, the greater the tax. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s latest swing at legalizing recreational marijuana in the state includes a new twist on taxation. Marijuana would be taxed based in part on its potency, measured by the level of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. The tax structure would be unique to New York, which trails 15 other states in legalizing recreational pot.In his budget address late last month, Cuomo estimated marijuana could eventually generate about $300 million in annual tax revenue. (1/30)

Washington Examiner: Pentagon Pauses Plan To Offer Guantanamo Bay Detainees Coronavirus Vaccines
The Pentagon stopped a controversial plan to offer detainees at Guantanamo Bay access to COVID-19 vaccines. "No Guantanamo detainees have been vaccinated. We’re pausing the plan to move forward, as we review force protection protocols. We remain committed to our obligations to keep our troops safe," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a tweet Saturday. (Dunleavy and Chaitin, 1/30)

NPR: EU To Get 9 Million More AstraZeneca Doses After Supply Row
AstraZeneca will deliver nine million additional doses to the European Union in the first quarter of this year, bringing the total number of doses to 40 million, but falling well short of earlier supply promises. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her announcement Sunday that the company would also deliver the vaccines one week earlier than originally scheduled, and that the company planned to expands its manufacturing capacity in Europe. But the new delivery is half of the agreed-upon 80 million doses originally expected for the first quarter. The EU signed a deal in August for 300 million AstraZeneca doses, according to the BBC, with an option for 100 million more. (Diaz, 2/1)

AP: Captain Tom Hospitalized For Virus He Raised Money To Fight
Tom Moore, the 100-year-old World War II veteran who captivated the British public in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic with his fundraising efforts, has been hospitalized with COVID-19, his daughter said Sunday.Hannah Ingram-Moore revealed in a statement posted on Twitter that her father, widely known as Captain Tom, has been admitted to Bedford Hospital because he needed “additional help” with his breathing. ... Moore became an emblem of hope in the early weeks of the pandemic in April when he walked 100 laps around his garden in England for the National Health Service to coincide with his 100th birthday. Instead of the 1,000 pounds ($1,370) aspiration, he raised around 33 million pounds ($45 million). (1/31)

AP: Israel To Give Some Coronavirus Vaccines To Palestinians
Israel has agreed to transfer 5,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to the Palestinians to immunize front-line medical workers, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s office announced Sunday. It was the first time that Israel has confirmed the transfer of vaccines to the Palestinians, who lag far behind Israel’s aggressive vaccination campaign and have not yet received any vaccines. (Federman, 1/31)

Reuters: Two Million Australians In Lockdown After One Coronavirus Case Found 
About 2 million Australians begun their first full day of a strict coronavirus lockdown on Monday following the discovery of one case in the community in Perth, capital of Western Australia state, but no new cases have since been found. Authorities ordered a five-day lockdown of Perth after a security guard at a hotel used to quarantine people returning from overseas was found to have contracted the virus. (Packham, 1/31)